Final Report Summary - SGCNB (Sheep and goat management in Cyprus from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age: an archaeozoological, isotopic and ethnographic approach)
In order to face the global change, our societies have to imagine new ways of life and new ways of food production. Because they are particularly well adapted to the local conditions and because they resisted to centuries and centuries of successive environmental and social changes, the modern traditional and the past farming systems can contribute to find new sustainable systems of exploitation of the natural resources. The SGCNB project aimed to contribute to this effort by studying in parallel the evolution of sheep and goat herding over the six millennia of the Neolithic and Bronze Age times on one hand, and the traditional caprines herding in the plains and hill slopes of a particular Mediterranean region, Cyprus. Cyprus is of special interest because it is part of the earliest cradle of neolithisation known in the world, and because it is an island. In addition, Cyprus played an important role in the scientific debates of the last 15 years, and still contributes importantly to them.
The traditional Cypriot sheep/goat herding was small- to medium-scale, with short-range mobility and designed to articulate harmonically with cereal and other forms of agriculture. It was also well-adapted to the local environment, climate and cultural/historical context. However, very little was known about it, and it was urgent to collect as many information as possible, since traditional systems are fast vanishing with the development of new economic constraints due to the globalisation. We established contacts with 24 sheep/goat herders who exercised traditional herding practices all over Cyprus and collected a large volume of data through interviews with them. They revealed information about the relationships between the herder and his animals, the daily and seasonal mobility of the flocks, foddering at the bad season, lambing seasons and practices, illnesses and their treatement and many other issues of both archaeological and ethnographic significance.
The reconstruction of past herding systems was based on the study of sheep and goat skeletal remains found in archaeological excavations (archaeozoology). The study of the age groups and of the male/female ratios brings information on the degree of control of the flocks, on the products which were sought after by the herders (e.g. meat, milk, fleece), on the different practices and on the skills of the herders. The study of the size and shape of the teeth and bones contributes information about the homogeneity of the flocks, the introduction of new breeds and on their origin, the diet and health of the animals or about the characteristics which were selected by early herders. New cutting edge techniques based on the serial analyses of the isotopic ratios of carbon and oxygen which are incorporated into the tooth enamel during the life of the animals allow us to discuss the seasonal change in their diet, their mobility between plain and mountains, the season of birth of lambs and kids or the foddering practices during the bad season. These investigations have been conducted on a large set of 13 archaeological sites spanning from the introduction of the domestic sheep and goat to Cyprus, during the early 8th millennium BC, to the 2nd millennium BC (Bronze Age), represented by a total of more than 10,000 sheep/goat archaeological remains. About 25 mandibles coming from two of these sites have been analysed for oxygen and carbon stable isotopes.
The project begun in September 2012, having a duration of two years. After a short two-month stay at the Museum of Natural History in Paris, the Marie Curie recruited scientist, Angelos Hadjikoumis, spent most of the rest of the first year in Cyprus, on the field and in various museums where the archaeological remains were studied and recorded. The rest of the work was conducted at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris and more specifically in the lab of “Archaeozoology-Archaeobotany” granted by the Museum and the CNRS. A. Hadjikoumis, worked very hard both in Cyprus and Paris to achieve this large project. He worked under the supervision of Jean-Denis Vigne, a CNRS senior researcher who is himself working on the origins of herding in Cyprus for more than 20 years, with help of Marie Balasse, another CNRS researcher who is famous for her knowledge of the Neolithic systems of herding and for the use of isotopic techniques.
All six work packages of the project have been fulfilled within two years: recording of archaeozoological data, collection of ethnoarchaeological data, preparation and implementation of isotopic analysis, analysis of archaeozoological and ethnoarchaeological data, interpretation of the results and dissemination. The results produced from the three different components of the project (i.e. archaeological, ethnographic and isotopic) have produced new and original knowledge on human behaviour in the past.
The zooarchaeological data have helped enhance previous knowledge and add new one about the origins and subsequent development of the long-standing and complex relationship between humans and sheep/goat in Cyprus. The arrival of goat and sheep at different times in Cyprus and the subsequent feralisation and hunting of populations of sheep and goat is documented in the data. The data also provide plausible scenario on the establishment of the still-surviving populations of the Cypriot mouflon. In addition, the establishment of domestic populations of sheep and goat managed by Early Neolithic herders is also confirmed from the 8th millennium BC onwards. In the 8th and 7th millennia BC, herds of managed sheep and goat were firmly established and were exploited mainly for their meat but there are also hints at some sites for the exploitation of some additional products such as milk and fleece. Moreover, sheep and goat almost certainly played more roles than fulfilling the human need to feed and dress. Later in the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods, the herding of sheep and goat has declined and hunting became the dominant source of animal protein to humans. Sheep and goat continued to be herded in Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic Cyprus but by the Chalcolithic the mouflon population was firmly established in Cyprus and hunted at several hunting stations. In the subsequent Bronze Age the sheep and goat became the most important taxa reflecting the intensification of economy and animal production with clearer evidence for exploitation of milk and other products.
The ethnographic component of the project, besides ensuring the preservation of the dying world of traditional sheep/goat husbandry practices, it has proved hugely informative for archaeological interpretation. The interviews with 24 senior traditional sheep/goat herders provided invaluable information on a variety of issues. For example, the different logics of choosing sheep or goat herding in relation to the environment, climate and social and cultural traditions in a specific area were illuminated by the herders. Moreover, they supplied practically useful zootechnic information on issues such as the ratios of male to female animals, age of death of their animals, their reproduction, the seasonality of different activities, the products produced, the relations between farmers and herders and many other issues.
The analysis of the isotopic composition of sheep and goat teeth from two sites of the 8th millennium BC has provided the first strong evidence that humans manipulated, to their benefit, the reproductive cycles of sheep and goats more than 9000 years ago. With the integration of the ethnographic data, we are able to suggest that the birth season for lambs and kids in Neolithic Cyprus took place in late autumn and early winter. If the climatic conditions in Neolithic Cyprus were similar to those of recent times, then this evidence also constitutes proof of a human, and in consequence animal, adaptation to specific climatic and environmental conditions. The integration of all the lines of evidence mentioned above produced a fuller understanding of the past but also the present. All over Europe, but especially so in Cyprus over the last 30-40 years, rapid and intense modernisation of animal and plant production has wiped out valuable traditional knowledge and breeds of animals, the importance of which is increasingly valued in planning sustainable and well-adapted systems in the future.
The traditional Cypriot sheep/goat herding was small- to medium-scale, with short-range mobility and designed to articulate harmonically with cereal and other forms of agriculture. It was also well-adapted to the local environment, climate and cultural/historical context. However, very little was known about it, and it was urgent to collect as many information as possible, since traditional systems are fast vanishing with the development of new economic constraints due to the globalisation. We established contacts with 24 sheep/goat herders who exercised traditional herding practices all over Cyprus and collected a large volume of data through interviews with them. They revealed information about the relationships between the herder and his animals, the daily and seasonal mobility of the flocks, foddering at the bad season, lambing seasons and practices, illnesses and their treatement and many other issues of both archaeological and ethnographic significance.
The reconstruction of past herding systems was based on the study of sheep and goat skeletal remains found in archaeological excavations (archaeozoology). The study of the age groups and of the male/female ratios brings information on the degree of control of the flocks, on the products which were sought after by the herders (e.g. meat, milk, fleece), on the different practices and on the skills of the herders. The study of the size and shape of the teeth and bones contributes information about the homogeneity of the flocks, the introduction of new breeds and on their origin, the diet and health of the animals or about the characteristics which were selected by early herders. New cutting edge techniques based on the serial analyses of the isotopic ratios of carbon and oxygen which are incorporated into the tooth enamel during the life of the animals allow us to discuss the seasonal change in their diet, their mobility between plain and mountains, the season of birth of lambs and kids or the foddering practices during the bad season. These investigations have been conducted on a large set of 13 archaeological sites spanning from the introduction of the domestic sheep and goat to Cyprus, during the early 8th millennium BC, to the 2nd millennium BC (Bronze Age), represented by a total of more than 10,000 sheep/goat archaeological remains. About 25 mandibles coming from two of these sites have been analysed for oxygen and carbon stable isotopes.
The project begun in September 2012, having a duration of two years. After a short two-month stay at the Museum of Natural History in Paris, the Marie Curie recruited scientist, Angelos Hadjikoumis, spent most of the rest of the first year in Cyprus, on the field and in various museums where the archaeological remains were studied and recorded. The rest of the work was conducted at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris and more specifically in the lab of “Archaeozoology-Archaeobotany” granted by the Museum and the CNRS. A. Hadjikoumis, worked very hard both in Cyprus and Paris to achieve this large project. He worked under the supervision of Jean-Denis Vigne, a CNRS senior researcher who is himself working on the origins of herding in Cyprus for more than 20 years, with help of Marie Balasse, another CNRS researcher who is famous for her knowledge of the Neolithic systems of herding and for the use of isotopic techniques.
All six work packages of the project have been fulfilled within two years: recording of archaeozoological data, collection of ethnoarchaeological data, preparation and implementation of isotopic analysis, analysis of archaeozoological and ethnoarchaeological data, interpretation of the results and dissemination. The results produced from the three different components of the project (i.e. archaeological, ethnographic and isotopic) have produced new and original knowledge on human behaviour in the past.
The zooarchaeological data have helped enhance previous knowledge and add new one about the origins and subsequent development of the long-standing and complex relationship between humans and sheep/goat in Cyprus. The arrival of goat and sheep at different times in Cyprus and the subsequent feralisation and hunting of populations of sheep and goat is documented in the data. The data also provide plausible scenario on the establishment of the still-surviving populations of the Cypriot mouflon. In addition, the establishment of domestic populations of sheep and goat managed by Early Neolithic herders is also confirmed from the 8th millennium BC onwards. In the 8th and 7th millennia BC, herds of managed sheep and goat were firmly established and were exploited mainly for their meat but there are also hints at some sites for the exploitation of some additional products such as milk and fleece. Moreover, sheep and goat almost certainly played more roles than fulfilling the human need to feed and dress. Later in the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods, the herding of sheep and goat has declined and hunting became the dominant source of animal protein to humans. Sheep and goat continued to be herded in Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic Cyprus but by the Chalcolithic the mouflon population was firmly established in Cyprus and hunted at several hunting stations. In the subsequent Bronze Age the sheep and goat became the most important taxa reflecting the intensification of economy and animal production with clearer evidence for exploitation of milk and other products.
The ethnographic component of the project, besides ensuring the preservation of the dying world of traditional sheep/goat husbandry practices, it has proved hugely informative for archaeological interpretation. The interviews with 24 senior traditional sheep/goat herders provided invaluable information on a variety of issues. For example, the different logics of choosing sheep or goat herding in relation to the environment, climate and social and cultural traditions in a specific area were illuminated by the herders. Moreover, they supplied practically useful zootechnic information on issues such as the ratios of male to female animals, age of death of their animals, their reproduction, the seasonality of different activities, the products produced, the relations between farmers and herders and many other issues.
The analysis of the isotopic composition of sheep and goat teeth from two sites of the 8th millennium BC has provided the first strong evidence that humans manipulated, to their benefit, the reproductive cycles of sheep and goats more than 9000 years ago. With the integration of the ethnographic data, we are able to suggest that the birth season for lambs and kids in Neolithic Cyprus took place in late autumn and early winter. If the climatic conditions in Neolithic Cyprus were similar to those of recent times, then this evidence also constitutes proof of a human, and in consequence animal, adaptation to specific climatic and environmental conditions. The integration of all the lines of evidence mentioned above produced a fuller understanding of the past but also the present. All over Europe, but especially so in Cyprus over the last 30-40 years, rapid and intense modernisation of animal and plant production has wiped out valuable traditional knowledge and breeds of animals, the importance of which is increasingly valued in planning sustainable and well-adapted systems in the future.